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Israel Zangwill and His American Public, 1892-1926 and Beyond A

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Israel Zangwill and His American Public, 1892-1926 and Beyond A UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles A Prophet and His People: Israel Zangwill and His American Public, 1892-1926 and Beyond A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Erik Marc Greenberg 2012 © Copyright by Erik Marc Greenberg 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A Prophet and His People: Israel Zangwill and His American Public, 1892-1926 and Beyond by Erik Marc Greenberg Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor David N. Myers, Co-chair Professor Janice L. Reiff, Co-chair This dissertation explores the unique, significant, and sometimes contentious relationship that existed between British Jewish author and activist Israel Zangwill and the Jewish community of the United States of America from 1892-1926 and beyond. Employing a broad definition of prophets and prophecy based on the works of prominent theologians, anthropologists, sociologists, and others, this dissertation argues that Zangwill’s vision of America as a new, diasporic cultural and religious center was so significant that we may reasonably characterize him as a prophet of American Judaism. This dissertation carefully studies Zangwill’s prophecy and the American Jewish reaction to Zangwillian thought to better understand both the nature of Zangwill’s thinking and the American Jewish community’s reception of that thought. In so doing it provides important insight ii into Zangwill’s prophetic vision for America, as well as the American Jewish community’s ideological divisions, limited tolerance for criticism, and anxieties over American toleration of Jews and Judaism in the Progressive era, the 1920s, and beyond. It places the narrative of Zangwill and America within the context of American Jewish intellectual history, as well as a broader, late-nineteenth-early- twentieth-century, trans-diasporic discourse on the prospective significance of America in Jewish life and culture. Of equal importance, this study carefully explores the phenomenon of modern fame as an important component in Zangwill’s popularity and legitimacy in American Jewish discourse. It grants particular focus to the role that Israel Zangwill’s American public played in determining the nature of Zangwill’s fame, noting the ways in which Americans helped establish the late British Jewish author’s reputation as an expert on Jews and Jewish affairs despite the fact that Zangwill preferred to be known as an artist unbound by the strictures of religion, nation, or tribe. In its conclusion, this dissertation considers the ways in which American Jews have written about and discussed Zangwill since his death. It notes the proclivity of twentieth-century, American Jewish intellectuals to reduce Zangwill’s biography to a synecdochic device illustrating the supposed painful divisions of the modern Jewish personality, and it argues that this study, in conjunction with the recent works of literary scholars Edna Nahshon and Meri-Jane Rochelson, signals a new direction in the study of Israel Zangwill—an approach which recognizes his significant contributions to Anglo Jewish letters and discourse in his own day and in our contemporary historical moment, as well. iii This dissertation of Erik Marc Greenberg is approved. Russell Jacoby Eric J. Sundquist David N. Myers, Committee Co-chair Janice L. Reiff, Committee Co-chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... vi Vita ............................................................................................................ xiv Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Fans and the Famous: The Development of Zangwill’s Fame in America .. ................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2: Zangwillian Prophecy: Much More Than the Melting Pot .................... 75 Chapter 3: Debating the Prophet and His Prophecy: Americans on Zangwill ....... 116 Chapter 4: The Zangwillian Upheaval: Israel Zangwill’s Final Engagement With America .................................................................................................... 156 Chapter 5: Zangwill Posthumously: A Study of Zangwillian Eulogy and Exegesis ...... ............................................................................................................... 208 Notes ....................................................................................................... 266 Bibliography ...............................................................................................298 v Acknowledgements This dissertation is the product of almost five years of research, thought, discussion, and writing, all of which would have been impossible without the support of a wide array of institutions and individuals. My recognition of, and thanks for, their assistance is a meager return on their investment, to be sure. I am, after all, forever in their debt. Still, I think it is extremely important to acknowledge publically their contribution to my scholarship, if only to inform those who read this dissertation of the tremendous generosity of the academic community, as well as that of my friends and family. Naturally I am deeply indebted to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), specifically the University’s Department of History and its Center for Jewish Studies (CJS). UCLA has been my intellectual home for the past six years, and whether in the classroom, at public symposia, or even just having a meal with my colleagues, I have found my time there to be extremely valuable and intellectually enriching. Equally important was the assistance of a host of administrators, both in the Department of History and at the CJS, who befriended me and helped me navigate through the tricky waters of the UCLA bureaucracy. I suspect that the following list may be incomplete, but I would like to thank these people for their assistance over the past six years—Vivian Hollenbeck (Assistant Director/ CJS), David Wu (Program Coordinator/CJS), Mary Enid Pinkerson (Community Affairs Coordinator/CJS), Barbara (Bebe) Bernstein (former Graduate Advisor/History), Hadley Porter (Graduate Advisor/History), Eboni Shaw (Graduate vi Counselor/History), Nancy Dennis (Assistant to the Chair/History), Tammy Van Wagoner (Academic Apprentice Coordinator/History). In addition to intellectual and administrative support, both the CJS and the Department of History provided me with financial support through employment as a researcher and teaching assistant, as well as through travel grants, a pre- dissertation year fellowship, and a dissertation year fellowship, as well. Both fellowships were made possible by a generous gift from the Monkarsh Family Fund. The Monkarsh’s generosity has enabled me and a whole cohort of Jewish historians at UCLA to provide greater insight into the history of the Jewish experience worldwide, and such magnanimous philanthropy should not go unnoticed. Financial support for my research came from other institutions, as well. Early on in my work, Temple University’s Feinstein Center for American Jewish History provided me with a summer research grant. I would like to thank the Center’s former Director, Michael Alexander, for his interest in, and support of, my work. Additional support came from the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio (AJA). I was a 2009 Lowenstein-Wiener Fellow at the AJA, an award which provided me with essential access to the Archives’ valuable collection of historical documents and ephemera. In truth, the AJA has provided more than financial support. If UCLA is my intellectual home, then the AJA and the libraries of Hebrew Union College (HUC)— particularly in Cincinnati and Los Angeles—are my home away from home. The staff of the AJA and of the HUC libraries has always made me feel welcome. Their kindness and hospitality, as well as their exceptional knowledge of their extensive vii collections, have facilitated my research in a number of important ways. As with the staff at UCLA, I suspect that the following list is incomplete, but I would like very much to thank the following people from the AJA and the HUC libraries—Kevin Proffitt (Senior Archivist For Research and Collections, Director of Fellowship Programs/ AJA), Dana Herman (Managing Editor of the AJA Journal and Academic Associate/ AJA), Rabbi Gary Zola (Executive Director/ AJA), Camille Servizzi (Assistant to Archivists, AJA), Lisa Frankel (Director of Programs and Administration/ AJA), Sheryl Stahl (Senior Associate Librarian/HUC Libraries, Los Angeles), Allan Satin (Senior Associate Librarian/HUC Libraries, Cincinnati). Other archives have facilitated my research as well. I am particularly indebted to Rochelle Rubinstein and the staff of the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem, Israel (CZA). The Zangwill collection at the CZA is vast, approximately five linear meters containing some 660 files. I spent nearly a month at the CZA and their staff was extremely helpful and responsive. Equally helpful was the staff of the UCLA libraries, the Center for Jewish History in New York City, the staff of the New York Public Library, and the archival staff of The Museum of the City of New York. I must offer special thanks and recognition to the staff of the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, California. I have been a member
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